Iowa's Not Bluffing

Made it down to my second ever OMG! Gravel and Adventure ride, apparently also somewhat known as "the hipster gravel ride"or so I've been told on a few occasions now. I'm not sure about all that but it's always been a good time when I've made it out. The ride generally meets on either the Iowa side or the Nebraska side of the Bob Kerrey pedestrian bridge and dependent on which side they meet on, they ride a bag of mixed road surfaces in that state. This week it was the Iowa side, oddly enough yesterday was the fist time I'd ever been on the Iowa side of the bridge... if you don't count crossing the line in the middle of the bridge.


The ride starts right around 6 pm, I recently stared a new job that is mostly the same as the old job but in a much different location. Not sure how long it would take me to get from the northwest side of Omaha to the east side in rush hour traffic I brought the bike and gear to work and tried to get out of there promptly at 5. I got there way early than I had expected and had some time to kill, the views from the Iowa side ain't half bad in their own right.


Building some sort of shopping complex on that side of the river, not sure what all is going in there but I bet it will get a fair amount of business.


Eventually met up with Robbie and Brandon and we waited a bit to see if we would get more fellow riders but on a day that was a bit chilly and a lot windy we weren't to optimistic.


I think the dog thought we were a little touched in the head going for a ride in this wind and maybe he was right but into the wind we were going none the less.




Promptly-ish at 6 something we headed off towards the gravel that awaited us but where exactly we were going I knew not. I really need to ride around here more and get familiar with the area, it's only been 3 years.


I've lived mere miles from this and never even knew it existed until yesterday, I could have been coming here weekly. Well, probably not but I could have.



Council Bluffs has trains, lots of them, I can't tell you how many railroad tracks we crossed last night. Luckily only got stopped the one time but Nelson just stared at us, mocking and laughing in that Nelson like "HaHa". Asshole!





A few more miles on the mean streets of Council-tucky and we were to the gravel, this I recognized barely because it was near the Wabash trail head.


For once I wasn't the only shutterbug on the ride, which was good as there was some great picture opportunities until it got darker.




Road was amazingly flat, and amazingly busy, which you would think would be great but it was straight into at least a 20 mph head wind, it didn't feel flat at all. Sustained head winds are not a strong suit of the fat bike, hills aren't either... actually not much is, so if you're going to ride fat you have to be willing to put up with a little suffering and there was plenty of it to go around last night.


Rode right by the gianormous Google data center, hadn't see it up close like before so that was kind of cool, when I could breath that is.


Other structures out this way were a little less awe inspiring.



Being a small group and Brandon and Robbie both being on skinnier tire, I was the slow one last night but they never complained or at least not loud enough to be heard over the wind. Stopped at the top of this little climb for a few pictures, Brohard Road, possibly the best named road in all of Council Bluffs.



Hit a little section of pavement which was a nice change of pace and we weren't directly into the wind so that was also nice. Had I known we were just beginning the hill climbs I probably wouldn't have been so jovial but sometimes ignorance really is bliss. Not much for pictures after this as it became too dark to get anything of quality but I can tell you that Applewood is a heck of a climb and some of those bluff roads get pretty steep. Should be good practice for gravel races down the road like Gravel Worlds, the Omaha Jackrabbit and the Solstice 100 so I guess the pain and suffering has a purpose.


This gem is from Brandon who was the other guy with a camera on the ride, pretty nice looking mirrorless setup. Been contemplating one myself once the G15 gives up the ghost, he's got a pretty good eye for photos and the camera takes great looking pictures. I particularly liked this one, which is odd because like most people I'm not real crazy about pictures I am in most of the time.

All in all it was another great ride with the OMG Gravel and Adventure club, I really hope to start making this a regular thing this year and get back to riding more often locally. Thanks for having me guys, great time as always!

Face Down, Ass Up... That's The Way I Like My Duck

Since it was such a nice day on Saturday we decided to take a walk, yes I do know how to walk someimes, around Walnut Creek Lake. For being just on the edge of Omaha there is a surprising amount of wildlife around the lake.


Ran into a rather large Bull Snake, who was none to happy that he had to share the trail with us.


Saw a few muskrats, one swimming too far off to get a decent picture of and this one scrounging around in the spillway.



There were a quack load of ducks and geese, you could tell it was getting to be mating season as they were all starting to pair up. As we were watching them another pattern started to develop...


Ducks and geese face down, ass up... some were taking turns.


Others both at the same time...


And then there were the showoffs who seemed to be doing some sort of synchronized ballet while feeding, little feet still churning, going around in perfectly timed circles. Who understands ducks though, they are all just so daffy.

Frozen Rain

It's going to snow, it's not going to snow... slight accumulation in our area with most pushing off to the south/north/east/west... oh wait, now we are getting snow again... 2"... 3"... 4"... 5"... who the hell knows, certainly not the weather people, the only guarantee they can give us is that there will be some sort of weather that will eventually change to other kinds of weather. Decided to throw caution to the wind today and just ride, regardless of what the weather dudes were predicting because those dudes lie a lot.


Managed to get in a good solid 20 miles in the wet, sloppy snow, temps were hovering right around freezing and we got soaked, snow from the sky and rain courtesy of really large tires coming from the ground. I have to say it was the first time since I got the Wolvhammers that my feet got cold, of course with all the moisture running down my legs, the half inch of water in the Wolvhammers might have contributed to the feet being cold. Great boots but definitely not rain/splash proof.


Wasn't much in the way of accumulation during the ride, seems to be sticking now but the totals are still up in the air. Laundry was a whole other story, with all that grit and wet snow the accumulation on that was massive, not a single stitch of clothing I wore didn't need washed.

Big Wheel Keep On Turning

I like bikes, I've bought one or two of them during my time on this planet but because I'm old and cantankerous, I am often reluctant to jump onto the new fad bandwagon as quick as others. I was late to the 29er party, late to the single speed party, so late to that party in fact that it's no longer "cool" to ride a single speed and I'm kind of that one guy that just won't let it go now, and somewhat late to the fat bike party as well. Of all of the "fads" that I've resisted I think the fat bike one might be the one I was actually least resistant to so it has also been the one I've jumped on quickest. While still not as mainstream as the 29er or the 650b, fat bikes are certainly not the niche they were a few years ago now that everyone and their brother is making one and of all the bandwagons I've eventually jumped on it's also the one that has been the most fun.


Met up with Tyler at Walnut Creek yesterday for a little single track and then some gravel over to Nebraska Brewing Company. Not sure what it is about semi secluded wooden areas that brings out the freaks but they do, ran across these two women having an odd photo session out amoungst the mud and dead grasses... the one getting her picture taken wasn't wearing much more than a pair of socks and a sweater that barely covered her lady bits, yes I looked... two or three times actually, who wouldn't do a double or triple take when there is a woman out in the woods, in the middle of winter, dressed in only a sweater? I know beavers don't mind the cold but even they usually stay in the lodge when not looking for food.





After two laps at Walnut Creek the single track started getting a little soft so it was time to hit the gravel. Big wheel keep on turning, poor thighs keep on burning and we're rolling, rolling rolling on the gravel.

Two laps at Walnut Creek, the gravel and the SMNDFBR on the previous day made my legs super happy to see the Nebraska Brewing Company as it meant less pedaling and more lounging. Watched the end of the Packers game, had a beer and ate some wings before limping home, more in survival mode than anything, legs haven't been this worked since last summer. Fat Bikes are a ton of fun to ride but damn does that extra rubber take a little bit more effort to keep rolling at speed.


It's been really cold around here lately, forecast is saying that at least for the end of this week that's going to turn around just a bit, supposed to be almost 50 on Saturday. The warmer temps will be nice but it also means all the good dirt will be bad mud this weekend, luckily the Fat Bike chews up the gravel as well as it does frozen single track... not a bad problem to have.

Farleys and Otters and Gravel... Oh My.

With Saturday temps being ideal for riding, even if the clouds and fog weren't, I decided it would be a great time to take the Farley out for a decent gravel ride. All told I managed to get about 25 1/2 miles in, probably could have gone a bit further but time was slipping away on the afternoon and the weather started looking a little worse as well.


Because the day was so nice I stopped at Walnut Creek Recreational Area and just plopped my backside on a rock near the banks of the lake and sat and looked around. It wasn't more than a few minutes before I was rewarded, all of a sudden this little guy surfaced just a few feet off the shore from me and nonchalantly swam around for a bit before diving below the surface again and disappearing.


Moving on I decided to shoot up Schram Road, the Farley handled the gravel really well. One of the nice things, I discovered, about riding a fat bike on gravel is that you don't need to be so concerned with finding the best line like you do on a cross bike or even a mountain bike. With almost 4 inches of undampened suspension and traction for days you can just point and pedal, floating over deep gravel pockets, chuck holes and wash boards with ease. Ideally you'd still want to choose the best line when possible as it will still be the smoothest and possibly fastest route but the penalty for making a mistake is almost imperceptible on the Farley.


I do most of my riding solo, which is probably not a bad thing since I take the camera on every ride and it's not unusual for me to stop frequently and take a few shots of the bike or nature or nature and the bike together in perfect harmony. For me a good ride isn't necessarily one where I beat my personal best but more one that leaves me refreshed and ready to face the "real world" again once it's over, I think the Farley is going to fit nicely into my riding style.


Having those massive tires you'd think that the Farley would be S  L  O  W... but while moving that amount of rubber certainly takes a bit more effort, once you get them rolling they actually churn along nicely. Once I get my fattie strength built up it might get even better but right now it seems like the Farley is about a mile an hour slower than the single speed on relatively the same route. Trek did an excellent job with gearing (11/36 in the rear and 36/22 up front) even on the roller coaster hills I never had to drop down out of the big ring up front and often was three gears up from the bottom on the rear even on the steep climbs... if I had one complaint it would be that the top end wasn't quite there when cruising down the back side of the climbs but then again speeds above 28 mph was probably not a huge concern for the Trek engineers when they were deciding on the gears. Fat Bikes have always looked like they would be a lot of fun to ride, they are even more fun to actually ride than they look.